In the first of the acclaimed Abbot Peter mysteries, Peter takes us to St James, a fragile community in the hot sands of Middle Egypt, peopled by those with nowhere else to take their creaking lives. There in the shadows of Mt Sinai Peter faces deception, delusion and death.

The monastery is already threatened with closure, due to rationalisation. But when a harsh and unpredictable maniac comes to call, people’s lives are under threat.

Suddenly, ordered religious practice is disordered, leaving no one unaffected. As events come to a traumatic climax, all have to question their beliefs and make decisions about their lives ... including Abbot Peter.

I think the book should be banned before it does the image of religion some serious damage.
~ Ian Hislop, ‘Private Eye’, ‘Have I Got News for You’.

Genuinely funny, tenderly serious – a delightful small novel.
~ Sara Maitland, author of A Book of Silence

If you’re after a surprising, disturbing, profound, witty magical mystery tour, then this book is for you.
~ Simon Mayo, Radio Presenter, author.

About the author

Simon Parke has been a scriptwriter for Spitting Image, a Sony award-winning radio writer and a priest in the Church of England. He is now CEO of The Mind Clinic and author of the Abbot Peter murder mysteries, set in Seaford on the Sussex coast where Simon now lives with Shellie, seagulls and his running shoes.

“Children and the Light” by Peter and Elizabeth Fenwick – ALF Rose had this experience many years ago when he was ill with pneumonia as a young child of four or five.
Suddenly I was out of my body and floating near the top of the window in my bedroom. I could see myself in bed and my mother kneeling at the side of the bed. She was crying and looked very distressed. I gazed at this scene for a little while and remember that I didn't feel any emotion at all and was completely indifferent to what I saw. Without any warning at all I was travelling very swiftly through a dense forest. Read here